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Reports of an impending American-Russian presidential summit have been overstated, apparently.

Just days after President Trump announced he planned to meet Russian President Putin in Budapest - "in approximately a fortnight" - the summit has been put off without a new date.

A preliminary meeting by the both countries' leading diplomats has been cancelled, too.

"I prefer not to have a fruitless discussion," Donald Trump informed the press at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I'll see what transpires."

• Donald Trump says he did not want a 'unproductive session' after plan for Putin talks shelved
• Disappointment in Kyiv as Zelensky departs White House without results

The on-again, off-again summit is just the latest twist in Trump's efforts to broker an conclusion to war in the Eastern European nation – a topic of increased attention for the American leader after he arranged a truce and hostage release agreement in the Palestinian territory.

While making remarks in Egypt recently to commemorate that ceasefire agreement, Trump turned to Steve Witkoff, with a new request.

"It is essential to get the Russian situation resolved," he declared.

However, the conditions that converged to make a Middle East success possible for the negotiation team may be difficult to replicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for nearing four years.

Reduced Influence

According to Witkoff, the crucial element to achieving a agreement was the Israeli government's move to strike Hamas negotiators in the Gulf state. It was a action that infuriated America's Arab allies but gave the president leverage to pressure Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

Trump gained from a history of siding with the Israeli state dating back to his initial presidency, encompassing his decision to relocate the US embassy to the contested city, to change America's position on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his backing for Israeli defense operations against Iran.

The US president, in fact, is better regarded among Israelis than their prime minister – a position that gave him unique influence over the nation's head.

Add in Trump's political and economic ties to influential Arab nations in the region, and he had a wealth of diplomatic muscle to force an agreement.

In the Ukraine war, by contrast, Trump has much less leverage. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between efforts to pressure Putin and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

The US leader has threatened to enact additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to supply the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that doing so could harm the world's financial stability and intensify the war.

At the same time, the US leader has publicly berated Zelensky, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with the country and pausing weapon deliveries to the country - then to retreat in the face of worried European partners who caution a defeat of Ukraine could disrupt the whole area.

The president often boasts about his ability to sit down and negotiate deals, but his personal discussions with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders haven't seemed to advance the war any closer to a peaceful end.

The Russian president may in fact be exploiting Trump's desire for a settlement – and faith in in-person deal-making - as a means of manipulating him.

During the summer, Russia's leader consented to a summit in Alaska just as it seemed probable that the president would sign off on congressional sanctions package supported by GOP senators. That legislation was afterwards delayed.

Last week, as reports spread that the White House was considering seriously sending long-range missiles and air defense systems to Kyiv, the president of Russia phoned the US president who then promoted the potential meeting in Budapest.

The next day, the president welcomed Zelensky at the White House, but left without agreements after a allegedly strained discussion.

Trump insisted that he was not being manipulated by Putin.

"As you are aware, I have been manipulated throughout my career by skilled operators, and I emerged successfully," he remarked.

However the Ukrainian leader subsequently commented on the sequence of events.

"Once the matter of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for Ukraine – for Ukraine – the Russian side quickly became less interested in diplomacy," he said.

So, in a matter of days, Trump has shifted from entertaining the prospect of providing weapons to Ukraine to planning a meeting in Hungary with Russia's leader and confidentially pressuring Zelensky to cede the entire Donbas region – including territory Russia has been failed to capture.

He has finally settled on calling for a ceasefire along present frontlines – something Russia has refused to accept.

During his election campaign last year, the candidate vowed that he could resolve the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has subsequently abandoned that pledge, admitting that concluding the war is turning out more difficult than he expected.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the constraints of his authority – and the difficulty of establishing a framework for peace when both parties desires, or is able to, give up the fight.